Crisis averted!

Yesterday, I picked up a tube of Fastrack Jump Start gel to try to get Gwen eating better. Jump Start is a source of live (viable) naturally-occurring microorganisms; a source of protease which can hydrolyze proteins and a source of amylase which can hydrolyze starch. The ingredients are:

I gave her a dose of the Jump Start gel in the afternoon. When she came into milk (Gel brought her in from the front pasture, which was a wonderful thing) she ate better than she has for several days now. I picked up some fresh cut alfalfa hay which she loves! I got over a gallon of milk last night. This morning, while I was milking the goats, she was at the gate mooing to be let in to milk. Yea! I got another gallon from her this morning. I would have thought she would have given more, but that’s okay. Whats more important to me is that she is eating better.

I was so glad to not have to walk out into the field with her halter and drag her back in! She’s leading better, but she still has a long way to go.

I’ll give her the Jump Start gel for two more days. I’ve been adding the Probiotic Pack to the goats’ food and will add it to hers when she’s through with the Jump Start. Of course the goats got some of the alfalfa, but they waste so darned much of it. I picked up the leaves that they dropped from their hay racks and fed it to Gwen. Otherwise, it would have been wasted. Goats waste an incredible amount of food.

Chicory is known for its toxicity to internal parasites so using the Probiotic Pack could help keep the worm count down. I am still using herbal wormer for the goats and will use it for the horses and Gwen.

Split had a better day yesterday too (or more like I had a better day so Split did as well). She’s more settled which means that the puppies are quieter (thank goodness!). They are growing like weeds; Split has a ton of milk! Looking forward to seeing what they look like with their eyes open. Once the puppies are several weeks old, I’ll have to be careful to keep Split under control. I don’t want the puppies picking up on her “highness” (for lack of a better word). To have to be under control when she’s around the puppies will be a good lesson for Split.

A woman from Alaska contacted me a while back about a puppy. I decided yesterday to tell her that I didn’t think the puppies from this litter would be a good fit for her. Primarily it’s because I don’t want to go through the rigmarole of shipping a puppy to Alaska, nor did I want the woman to go through the expense of getting a puppy to her and then being disappointed with the puppy. I’d rather keep them local so that if someone isn’t happy with or for some reason cannot keep the puppy, it can come back to me. No more long distance puppy deals for me. This will likely be the last litter I breed.

I made a gallon of yogurt from Jersey milk yesterday. It finished today and I’m looking forward to eating it tomorrow morning. I had to use store-bought yogurt this morning and gosh, that’s awful stuff! The last batch I made was from goat milk and it just didn’t cut it. Yogurt from goat milk is usually very thin. I love the texture of yogurt from whole cow milk. Today I started a large batch of goat cheese. These days, milk is flowing all over the farm!